What Did I Tell You About That?
by DeniseV
Summary: Starsky starts a chain reaction that soon has the whole precinct in an uproar. Next time he may think twice about being so dedicated to his work. Well, probably not.


It seemed to Hutch like Starsky had been coughing for weeks. In reality, his partner had been suffering over a week now with a really bad cough, a cough that was draining the energy from the most energetic person he knew. It was painful to watch his best friend grab for his chest during the worst of the coughing spasms.

Starsky had finally broken down and gone to the doctor, but all that got him was some cough medicine that didn't seem to do much other than make him sleepy. Hutch knew that sleep would help his suffering partner, but they were also in the midst of an investigation that required their complete attention and was forcing them to work long hours. There was no doubt this case was the reason Starsky wasn't getting any better.

Somehow, Starsky managed to remain upbeat during his illness, which was rare in their long history together. Starsky usually didn't suffer alone, and didn't suffer in silence, unless it was something really serious, in which case he preferred to switch to quiet suffering mode.

The partners were having their daily meeting with the other members of the task force Dobey put together to try to get the drug dealers who had been selling tainted marijuana to teenagers at several local high schools. Two of the teens had been in the hospital in critical condition, one having finally succumbed to the poisoned dope two days before.

The task force consisted of Dobey, Starsky and Hutch, Simmons and Babcock, and Minnie on special assignment to help with the coordination of evidence. She had proved herself highly observant and a keen and knowledgeable team member on an earlier case involving the murders of high school students.

The meeting began the same way it had begun every day for the last five. "What have we got?" Dobey asked.

"We have Johnson and Miller firmly in place undercover as students. They should be able to get in position soon to seek out a supplier." Starsky started. And then he started coughing. Lately he was rarely able to get that much out before he started in with the coughing. Hutch looked to him and silently asked if he was okay. Starsky nodded his head, giving his partner the assurance that he was fine but that Hutch should continue with the update.

"Johnson and Miller are under as brothers recently transferred after moving here from upstate. They'll aggressively be looking for a contact. They'll be making it obvious that they want a source to supply their habits." Hutch finished, looking over at Starsky as he started in with another coughing jag.

"What did I tell you about that?" Hutch asked.

"What?" Starsky replied, holding tight to his chest.

"That." Hutch said, and pointed toward Starsky's chest.

"What?" Starsky asked, confused by the questioning.

"What did we talk about yesterday?" Hutch queried his partner.

"What?" Starsky asked, coughing and beginning to show the irritation on his face.

"Your shirt." Hutch finally answered with something more helpful.

The rest of the people in the room watched the exchange with curiosity. Dobey was becoming concerned about the exchange, as it showed how much Starsky was out of it, not picking up on what his partner was trying to tell him. But considering how sick Starsky had been, he decided to not worry too much about it. The fact that he was still willing to work through the illness and participate in the investigation was proof enough of Starsky's abilities and professionalism.

"Oh, jeez, Hutch, will ya lay off it?" Starsky pleaded to his partner.

"What did I tell you about that?" Hutch asked again, staring his partner down until Starsky was finally forced to button the shirt.

"If I do that it feels like it's too high up my neck." Starsky whined back to his partner.

"What did you tell him about that, Hutch?" Simmons asked, laughing.

Starsky gave Simmons a dirty look, and then sent the look Hutch's way as his partner answered, "I told him that maybe one of the reasons he wasn't getting any better was because he wore his shirt unbuttoned so far; wasn't giving his chest a chance to recover."

Then Babcock decided to get in on the fun. "Why are you looking at Starsky's chest, Hutch?" The entire room full of people burst out laughing, including Starsky, who laughed through his cough; it was a needed break from the stress of the investigation.

Simmons stood and moved to sit across the table. "I don't think I want to sit between you two. Maybe you want to move closer together?" He asked.

Starsky and Hutch looked at each other, smiled, and then moved their chairs closer together to continue working. Minnie and Dobey just looked at them and shook their heads.

Two days later, Starsky was still coughing, but he wasn't the only one. Most of the team had managed to pick up the cough. Dobey started the meeting, "What have we got?" He followed that with a cough, giving Starsky the evil eye. Starsky ignored him.

"Captain, Johnson made contact with a guy. They're going to meet tonight at the dance at the gym." Hutch answered. He was the only one in the group who wasn't sick.

"Just like 'West Side Story'." Starsky said, grinning.

"Why don't you have this cough, Hutch? You're with him every day." Minnie asked, putting a special negative accent on the 'him'.

"I'm immune to him. I've picked up an immunity to most things Starsky." Hutch's partner gave him a mock hurt look as they enjoyed the joke that nobody else seemed to find funny.

"Here, I've been using these cough drops the last couple of days. Seems to have helped some." Starsky scattered some cough drops on the conference room table for his teammates.

"You don't think that maybe it's because you're on the downside of this, while the rest of us are in the heart of our suffering?" Simmons asked heatedly, grabbing a couple of cough drops on his way out.

"Yeah, Starsky, maybe you shoulda stayed home a few days while you were your most contagious. We're all real impressed with your ability to continue working while you're sick. We're particularly impressed with the way you got the whole team, except for your partner, sick." Babcock continued, grabbing his own stash of cough drops as he left the conference room, not waiting for a reply from the curly-headed one.

"Jeez, I guess that'll teach me to be committed to my job, huh Hutch?" Starsky asked the only person left with him in the room.

"I guess. Let's roll." Hutch replied.

Two days later the final morning meeting of the task force took place. The team had successfully captured the dealer providing Johnson with a stash of the tainted marijuana outside the dance at the gym. That day's meeting would function as a wrap-up for the team, turning the follow-up with the DA over to Simmons and Babcock for the duration of the case.

Starsky was the last to enter the room. He looked around the room carefully, and finally spotted a seat that seemed to be to his liking. That seat happened to be far away from Hutch.

"Whatsa matter Starsky? Don't want to sit next to your partner?" Minnie asked. Starsky squinted his eyes at her, having hoped that nobody would notice his canvassing the room for a 'safe' seat.

Hutch looked across the table at his partner. "Yeah, Starsky." Hutch started, followed by a serious bout of coughing. "What am I, a leper? I didn't steer clear of you when you were sick."

"Hutch, I just got over bein' sick. Do you want me to get sick again?" Starsky asked seriously. "You know, I was really sick. For a long time. You guys are all gettin' over this in a few days, but I suffered for ten days with this. I coulda caught pneumonia." Starsky was obviously feeling the need to defend himself. His partner decided not to let him off the hook.

"Of course we don't want you to get sick again, Typhoid Starsky. It's far better that the rest of the precinct gets sick first. Oh, and thanks a lot for that cough drop. It's not bad enough that you got us all sick, then you make us really sick by taking those cough drops. I practically choked to death between coughing and throwing up this morning. Thanks buddy."

"I thought it was just me, Hutch. Yeah, Starsky, thanks a lot for the cough drops." Babcock wanted in on this action. Everybody stormed out of the room, leaving Starsky alone. Starsky got up slowly and went to make a phone call before heading to the squad room to pick his partner up and start their patrol.

It had been a long, grueling day. Starsky and Hutch had handled a large number of small calls and the tension between them had grown with each frustrating call. Hutch was coughing like crazy, and was giving his partner the silent treatment at the same time. Starsky wondered why everyone was handling their cold so badly. He didn't remember being so difficult with people these last two weeks. He was feeling a little put-upon and was just as willing to reciprocate with the silent treatment towards Hutch.

And he was also feeling really tired, as though he might only barely make the drive to Hutch's, let alone be able to stay awake to drive himself home. He pulled up in front of Venice Place and put the car in park while his partner quietly opened the door and excited the Torino. Hutch walked toward his door and realized that Starsky hadn't re-started the car to head home. He wearily walked back over to check on his friend.

"What're you doing?" Hutch asked.

"Tired. Need to get the energy to get moving." Starsky yawned in reply.

Hutch eyed his partner and could tell now that Starsky really was at the end of his stamina. Hutch walked around the back of the car and opened the driver's side door. "Come on, you're spending the night. You shouldn't drive in your condition."

"I'm okay. Just need to wake up." Starsky rubbed tiredly at his eyes in an attempt to wake up enough to make the drive home.

"No, no. Get out. You're falling asleep in the middle of this conversation." Hutch received no reply from his partner. "Starsky!" Starsky jumped at the yelling of his name. He actually had just fallen asleep. "Come on, I'm tired, let's go." Starsky got out of the car slowly and followed his partner up to the apartment.

Hutch opened the door and smelled the most amazing smells emanating from the kitchen. "What's this?" He asked, as he headed to the kitchen. There was a pot of soup simmering on the stove and fresh-baked bread evident. He saw a note on the table.

_Hutch,_

_The curly headed one asked me to put together something for dinner that would make you feel better. So here it is. There's a salad in the fridge, and a bottle of wine chilling if you're up to it._

_Feel better,_

Hug 

Hutch turned to his partner. "Starsk," but as he faced back toward where he thought his partner would be, he found his best friend curled up on the couch, already snoring. He smiled at the sight, and then frowned as he realized how mean he'd been to his partner over the last couple of days, joining in whenever everybody else started chiding him about passing his germs on to the entire police force.

Hutch knew he should let his partner sleep; he was obviously way behind on his sleep after that long period of constant coughing. But he felt the need to say something to his partner right then. He walked over and sat on the edge of the coffee table and rubbed his partner's arm softly to try to get him to wake for just a minute.

"Starsk, hey buddy, can you wake up just a second? I wanna say something to you."

Starsky barely stirred, but managed to slur, "Yeah, Hutch, ya need somethin'?"

Hutch smiled. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah." Another slurred response.

"Starsk, thanks for the dinner. That was nice." Hutch really wanted to say more than that to his sleepy partner.

"Hug came through, huh?" Starsky asked, smiling. Hutch knew that Starsky would be out again in just moments.

"No, you did. Like always. Thanks, buddy." Hutch finished, as he heard Starsky snoring again.

The End.


End file.
